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April 27, 2006

Gender and Sport

There has been some interesting news recently concerning gender lines in sports. Coincidentally (or not), both stories I've come across involve tennis. At the professional level, the All England Lawn Tennis Club has drawn controversy by announcing that this year's prize money for the Wimbledon men's champion will again be higher than that for the women's champion. Wimbledon thus remains the only event in tennis' 4-event "grand slam" not to pay its male and female champions equally.

At this point, professional basketball fans may be asking themselves what the big deal is. After all, WNBA players are paid substantially less than their male NBA counterparts. And this is obviously due to the fact that the WNBA brings in much less money in ticket revenue, merchandising, television broadcasts, etc. So, this raises the question, how does revenue from women's tennis compare to men's tennis?

Women's tennis star Maria Sharapova claims that the women get just as many sponsorships and equal television ratings to the men. This is certainly true for the glamorous Sharapova (a.k.a. the Anna Kournikova of the sport who can actually win tournaments), but is it true for the entire women's side of the tournament? Also, Wimbledon has pointed out that the women play only to the best of 3 sets, whereas the men play to the best of 5. It seems to me that the only fair way to determine the payouts is by the comparative revenue to the tournament from each gender.

In a more interesting development, Quaker Valley High School tennis player Annie Houghton recently won the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League boys' tennis championship. Houghton was allowed to play on the boys' team this spring because she missed the girls' tennis season last fall while recovering from knee surgery. Columnist Bonnie Erbe is celebrating Houghton's achievement while disparaging the push by Western Pennsylvanian athletic directors to implement anti-gender-crossing rules in high school sports.

Erbe goes on to argue, rather unconvincingly, that gender time differences in running are "evaporating." The men's world record in the 10K is 27:02, while the women's record is 30:21--a difference of over ten percent! I suspect a time of 30:21 wouldn't even qualify a man for international competition in the 10K.

Erbe seems to advocate allowing the best women in a sport to opt to compete with the men, and she offers the case of professional golfer Michelle Wie--who will be competing in a PGA tournament this fall--as an example. However, if we allow the standout females to compete on the male tournament for the greater payouts found there, should we allow less-skilled male golfers to play in the LPGA for a shot at the championship? The idea sounds absurd, but why should we make exceptions only in one direction? Or perhaps we could eliminate the gender line in golf completely. However, the problem with that would be that most women would never have a shot at winning a tournament.

On this subject, you can count me as a traditionalist. Gender lines in most sports are a good thing for both genders. The occasional problems with the status quo are outweighed by the problems that would arise from erasing the gender lines.

Posted by Eric Seymour at 12:41 PM | Comments (7)

April 26, 2006

Dual Incomes: Masking a Middle Class Crisis?

Here's your food for thought for the week. Are dual income households worth it? Or are they actually hiding a bigger problem for the middle class? Professor Elizabeth Warren writes in a recent issue of Harvard Magazine that today's middle-class, dual-income households are actually less financially secure than single income households of a generation ago.

Scholars, policymakers, and critics of all stripes have debated the social implications of these changes [switching to a dual-income model], but few have looked at their economic impact. Today the median income for a fully employed male is $41,670 per year (all numbers are inflation-adjusted to 2004 dollars)--nearly $800 less than his counterpart of a generation ago. The only real increase in wages for a family has come from the second paycheck earned by a working mother. With both adults in the workforce full-time, the family's combined income is $73,770--a whopping 75 percent higher than the median household income in the early 1970s.

Men's incomes are stagnant. But since household incomes haven risen 75 percent because of women entering the workforce, families are better off, right? Not necessarily. Fixed costs have risen correspondingly with the increase in household incomes, while discretionary income has actually dropped slightly. This means two-income families aren't exactly living it up. Indeed, counterintiutively, single income families of the 1970s lived more luxurious lives than today's two income families.

The bottom line: today's median-earning, median-spending middle-class family sends two people into the workforce, but at the end of the day they have about $1,500 less for discretionary spending than their one-income counterparts of a generation ago.

Today's families, far from coming down with affluenza, Warren writes, are actually living more frugally than their 1970s counterparts. The average family of four today spends 33 percent less on clothing than a similar family did in the early 1970s, 23 percent less on food (at-home and restaurant eating combined), and 51 percent less on major appliances than their predecessors (all of these numbers relative to inflation).

Warren writes, and blogger Chris Atwood makes the point even stronger, that all of that extra income has been eaten up by "basics"-- housing costs, health and child care (for obvious reasons), transportation, and higher taxes (from 24 percent to 30 percent of income). I'm not an economist, so I'm not going to quibble with Warren's numbers. Assuming she's right, what can be done about the increasingly precarious position of the middle class? Warren wants to repeal the recent bankruptcy reform and other financial sector reforms passed since the 1980s which allow lenders to engage in practices "too shady even for a back-alley loan shark." She also supports traditionally generous pension and healthcare benefits programs, like the kind that once defined the steel, airline, and automobile industry. These measures would take some of the "risk" out of middle class life, which I am certain the conservative audience here would take issue with. Atwood, on the other hand, argues that many of Warren's "basics" are not really that because they are a direct cost of taking on a second income -- namely child care and a second car. He also argues that most of the middle class crunch comes from higher taxes. So his answers are to cut taxes and encourage people to find ways to live on a single income.

What do you think?

Posted by David Darlington at 12:00 AM | Comments (34)

April 25, 2006

Request for advice

So last week my desktop PC at home died. Luckily, I heeded the sick noises the hard drive was making prior to that, and backed up all my important files. Everything else is probably fine, but several other minor annoyances (including the fact that the noisy case fan and video card fan made it sound like a chainsaw ensemble whenever it was running) and the fact that it was a 6-year-old Pentium 3 have convinced me to spring for a new PC. (In the meantime, I'm using my laptop for home computing purposes.)

I've priced a Dell Dimension E310 with the features I want, and I'm planning to visit brick-and-mortar stores this week to compare with their systems. Any other suggestions?

Posted by Eric Seymour at 05:25 PM | Comments (15)

April 24, 2006

Hillary Riots Continue Unabated

Note: the following is satire. Reader discretion is strongly advised for the humor-imparied.

Violent protests broke out again in the liberal strongholds of New York City, Boston, and San Francisco today as left-wingers demanded the death of Thomas D. Kuiper, the author of a compilation of unflattering quotes attributed to Hillary Clinton. The unrest has been spurred on by militant liberal leader al-Davidbrock, who last week urged his followers--known as the Move-on Martyrs Brigade--to assault the New York Times for publishing a book review which did not condemn Kuiper's compilation.

"The New York Times has shown itself to be complicit in the neocon conspiracy against all that is right and good. We will not rest until this heresy is destroyed, praise be to Clinton!" said al-Davidbrock on the militant web site Media Matters. Fearing for public safety, the Times backed down yesterday and published a "correction" of the review, including criticisms to mollify the protesters.

Although the protests in front of the Times have subsided, attacks on the book's publisher, World Ahead Publishing, have continued. A young liberal wearing a black mask held a Molotov cocktail in one hand and a copy of Bushisms in the other, commented "It is our duty to make fun of infidel conservative leaders such as Bush and Rumsfeld, but it is blasphemy to offend the sacred prophetess Hillary." "Death to Kuiper!" he shouted, and hurled the incendiary device at the company's front entrance.

City officials have attempted to distance themselves from the book's inflammatory content, while upholding the right to free speech and press. Officials in Boston are contemplating an attempt to calm the protests by sponsoring a public appearance by liberal entertainer Michael "abu-Bigmac" Moore.

Disclaimer: The preceding should in no way be construed as comparing liberals and/or Democrats to Islamic extremists. The intent is to satirize the fundamentalist Islamic reaction to the Jyllands-Posten cartoons by comparing it to the reaction to the book I've Always Been a Yankees Fan. The latter, though silly, is how a culture that values freedom handles such issues. Have a nice day.

Posted by Eric Seymour at 05:36 PM | Comments (3)

April 22, 2006

Errata

The "$2.89" in my previous post should read "$3.05." Sincerest apologies for any inconvenience.

Posted by David Darlington at 05:00 PM | Comments (3)

April 21, 2006

Where your $2.89 per gallon is going

Via Mark Byron, this chart from the Washington Post shows us the component parts of gasoline prices. By far the largest component is the price of crude oil, 54.8 percent of at-the-pump prices, which hit $70 a barrel this week and should continue to rise throughout the summer. The second largest component (21.7 percent) is refining costs, which are still higher than average due to reduced capacity from Hurricane Katrina. The third largest component of gas prices is taxes at 18.9 percent.

What this means is don't take your frustrations out on that immigrant behind the counter. He's getting a raw deal just like the rest of us. Distribution, marketing, and storage are a measly 4.5 percent of gas prices.

Posted by David Darlington at 09:09 AM | Comments (19)

Charity or "Look at Me"?

I think it's commendable that the Democratic party is having their spring meeting in New Orleans this week. Just as when the GOP chose to have their national convention in New York City following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Democrats' decision to meet in New Orleans will provide a welcome boost to that city's economy.

I also think it's commendable that some meeting attendees will spend time helping clean up hurricane-damaged neighborhoods. However, I believe the party leadership made a mistake by using this as an occasion to sling accusations at the Bush administration. As the Bible tells us:

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-4)

Posted by Eric Seymour at 08:55 AM | Comments (18)

April 18, 2006

ITA message forum

One of ITA's founding missions was to serve as a psudo Greek agora - a place where people assembled to discuss all kinds of topics. I think we've largely achieved that, but the topics that are discussed here are still largely driven by the topics we choose to post about. In an attempt to give you, the ITA reader, more freedom and enjoyment from the topics and angles discussed we've created the ITA message forum. This allows you to post on any topic you choose, at any time. The registration process is quick and painless, so jump on in to ITA's new message forum.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at 07:00 PM | Comments (2)

A Sleeping Icon?

When you mention baseball greats, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Lou Gerhig, and others come to mind. St. Louis Cardinal slugger Albert Pujols isn't yet a part of that list, nor should he be. But if Pujols continues on his current pace he will undoubtedly deserve to mentioned in the same sentence as the other greats.

Already Pujols has put up the best first five years of any player in history. No other player has hit over .300 with 30+ home runs, 100+ RBI, and 100+ runs scored in each of his first 5 Major League Baseball seasons. Indeed, no player has even done that in their first three, yet alone five.

Yesterday Pujols added to his list of accomplishments by homering in four consecutive at-bats. "He keeps doing things that put him in company with the greatest players of all time," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "Albert Pujols is the best hitter in baseball."

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at 11:22 AM | Comments (20)

April 17, 2006

From Dust to Dust

The New York Times carries an interesting article titled, "For a Price, Final Resting Places That Even Tut Could Appreciate." There are apparently a growing nnumber of expensive individual mausoleums. "The mausoleum says, 'I'm really significant in this world, I think I'm really significant to my family,' and this is one way to communicate that to the community." A vice president of a Wisconsin company that owns three cemeteries says, "there is this influx of people who are financially successful and who are thinking about these issues and how to have a structure that tells the story of their lives."

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at 02:30 PM | Comments (1)

Daylight Spending Time

The Indianapolis Star has a piece today touting the economic benefits of DST. Colour me unimpressed. I hope no one in the Daniels Administration tries to hang their hat on this paltry evidence: increased sales of ice cream, Big Macs, and beer; and more golf, tennis, and softball. And the article notes that this 'new' daylight spending might simply be a transfer from nighttime spending, like movie theatres (especially drive-ins). Even if consumer spending at the mall could comprise a significant impact on the State's economy, aren't these the kind of luxury items that inhibit saving? I'm more heartened by the news of increased business at home improvement stores, as this type of spending increases home equity -- but wait! Might this also simply be a transfer:

"Without daylight-saving time, all those projects are going to have to be put off until the weekend, "said Yancey Casey, regional spokesman for Home Depot. "Now you get off work, stop by the store, come home and still have a good hour or two to work."

So is the total spending on home improvement increasing, or is shopping merely shifted to the weekdays?

The article also makes a passing reference to Kentucky shoppers who can now come to Indiana without having to make the challenging mental calculation of adding or subtracting 1 (I know, Kentuckians probably do struggle with this). Would this ambiguous benefit outweigh the number of western Hoosiers who slip across the Illinois border to do their shopping?

I think the Star made a mistake in pursuing this story. There's not much to report, at least not much of substance, and certainly nothing that (so far) justifies Gov. Daniels' enormous investment of political capital in an unpopular policy. Perhaps we'll have some more convincing numbers in the future; I just hope they are reported with greater accuracy than the Department of Workforce Development has been able to muster with jobs numbers.

The one silver lining for Mitch is that if increased consumer spending makes people happier, he may salvage his flagging public approval:

On a balmy evening last week, Angela Pastor got a great taste of DST, sitting outside at the Front Page on Massachusetts Avenue Downtown.

. . . By 8 p.m., the sun was still shining down on her.

"I though, I could get used to this," she said.

Posted by Zach Wendling at 12:05 PM | Comments (5)

April 16, 2006

Easter

He is Risen! Alleluia!

Posted by David Darlington at 04:27 PM | Comments (1)

April 14, 2006

Good Friday

Jesus, Refuge of the Weary

Jesus, refuge of the weary,
Blest redeemer, whom we love,
Fountain in life's desert dreary,
Savior from the world above:
Often have your eyes, offended,
Gazed upon the sinner's fall;
Yet upon the cross extended,
You have borne the pain of all.

Do we pass that cross unheeding,
Breathing no repentant vow,
Though we see you wounded, bleeding,
See your thorn encircled brow?
Yet your sinless death has brought us
Life eternal, peace, and rest;
Only what your grace has taught us
Calms the sinner's deep distress.

Jesus, may our hearts be burning
With more fervent love for you;
May our eyes be ever turning
To behold your cross anew
Till in glory, parted never
From the blessed Savior's side,
Graven in our hearts forever,
Dwell the cross, the Crucified!

Author: Girolamo Savonarola, 1452-98
From: Lutheran Worship, #90

Posted by David Darlington at 12:36 PM | Comments (1)

A Black Letter Day

Just as I did last year, I exhort you to go to church tonight.

Posted by Zach Wendling at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2006

Comedy Central caves in to Islamic Fundamentalism

This is just amazing. As many of our readers already know, Comedy Central's South Park last week aired part 1 of an episode centered around the Mohammed cartoon controversy. Last night, the second part of the episode aired, and in the scene where Mohammed was to appear, two screens of text were shown indicating that Comedy Central had censored the scene. But was this actual censorship, or just another joke by South Park's creators?

Today, Stephen Spruiell is reporting that yes, in fact, Comedy Central did censor the episode. The AP is reporting the same thing. South Park has poked fun at a host of religions and groups of people, and in this very episode Jesus Christ was depicted defecating on President Bush, other Americans, and the American flag. Comedy Central did not find it necessary to censor any of this.

Click here if you would like to express your opinion to Comedy Central.

Michelle Malkin has video clips of the episode.

Posted by Eric Seymour at 06:32 PM | Comments (5)

The End of the World as We Know It

Mark Steyn has a must-read article in City Journal about the growing threat Iran poses to the civilized world. I'd suggest having a stiff drink handy when reading it. Steyn looks at the well-publicized face-off between Iran and the West on its nuclear program, and last month's less-publicized Iranian fatwa approving of the use of nuclear weapons, and paints a very disturbing picture. If the theocratic regime that has been in control of Iran for 25 years gets a nuclear weapon, the free world may face the choice of either bowing to sharia law or seeing one or more of our cities incinerated (with Jerusalem at the top of the list, naturally). Here's a quote:

What's the difference between a[n Iranian] hothead and a moderate? Well, the extremist Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," while the moderate Rafsanjani has declared that Israel is "the most hideous occurrence in history," which the Muslim world "will vomit out from its midst" in one blast, because "a single atomic bomb has the power to completely destroy Israel, while an Israeli counter-strike can only cause partial damage to the Islamic world."

Go and read the whole article.

Posted by Eric Seymour at 06:06 PM | Comments (22)

April 12, 2006

Free advice to speaker organizers

When you're wanting to book the Daily Show's Jon Stewart for a speaking event, be sure not to accidentally book former professional wrestler Jon A. Stewart instead.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2006

McDowell and Campus Crusade launch "Da Vinci Quest"

The Da Vinci Code--a movie based on Dan Brown's bestselling novel and starring Tom Hanks and Ian McKellan--is coming to theaters on May 19, and parts of the Christian community are gearing up for a spiritual battle over the novel and movie's controversial premise: that Jesus Christ was secretly married to Mary Magdalene, fathered a child, and that their bloodline survives to this day.

Josh pointed out a list of 10 errors in The Da Vinci Code last fall, saying that any "gullible" reader who would receive the novel as truth is at least partially to blame for their own deception. Nevertheless, Brown has muddied the waters by claiming that "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." It is not hard to imagine that many uninformed people may come to believe that the content of the novel and movie is at least plausible, or even accurate.

In order to meet this challenge, Christian apologeticist Josh McDowell has written a book called The Da Vinci Code: A Quest for Answers. Campus Crusade for Christ has developed an outreach strategy to distribute the book, as well as a 20-page mini-magazine "companion guide" to the movie. Campus Crusade also plans to run advertisements on television, in movie theaters, and on the web, directing people to an apologetics web site with information and links to additional sites which debunk the claims of The Da Vinci Code.

When he visited my church last year, McDowell pointed out that it would be a mistake for the Church to attack this film, and I believe he is right. For one thing, Tom Hanks is one of America's most beloved actors and attacking a movie in which he is the leading actor may backfire. More importantly, doing so would tend to reinforce a perception that the Church has a secret to keep. Instead, McDowell and Campus Crusade are wisely seeking to "make the most of every opportunity" and use the film's release--and the fact that it will challenge people to think about the life of Christ--as an opportunity for evangelism.

As a final note, for those who enjoy the sort of historical and religious mystery and intrigue in The Da Vinci Code, I highly recommend A Skeleton in God's Closet, a novel by Paul L. Maier in which an archeological discovery threatens to unravel Christianity from its core, and sends the world into turmoil.

Posted by Eric Seymour at 05:22 PM | Comments (19)

The Chronicles of Narnia

Need an Easter gift for the kids? I highly recommend this edition of the Chronicles of Narnia, which includes all seven books in the Narnia series in storyline order, plus an essay by C.S. Lewis on the origins of Narnia and on how to write for children. Never having read the series as a child, I'm working my way through this edition right now.

Posted by David Darlington at 08:07 AM | Comments (6)

April 10, 2006

Joseph Criscuoli

Bloggers are often solicited to advertise or plug various books or projects people are working on, and we here at ITA are no different. But I particularly enjoy artists of the painting variety soliciting my review of their work. Painters seem to be a dying breed and I enjoy supporting them when possible.

Artist Joseph Criscuoli wrote me recently to draw attention to his website's new design. He writes, "New paintings have been added to the website, along with recent shows - local, in the Midwest, and on the world wide web - and several awards." Criscuoli paints with acrylics and I typically prefer oil-based works, but I will say that his coat of arms work is splendid.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at 08:06 PM | Comments (1)

April 09, 2006

Immigration, Impermanence, and Irridentism

One of the sticking points in the immigration debate is the incredulity that so many immigrants, 11-20 million of them, could possibly assimilate into American society. On this point, John Tierney reported some encouraging news:

A national survey by the Pew Hispanic Center found that nearly all second-generation Latinos are either bilingual or English-dominant, and by the next generation 80 percent are English-dominant and virtually none speak just Spanish.

If language is a good proxy for cultural norms, then it seems like current immigrants are assimilating within two generations.

This could change in two ways: the volume of immigration increases beyond some threshold where assimilation pressures are no longer effective or those pressures themselves weaken. I think these both deserve consideration, as they are both likely under current proposals.

The Pew data above only relate to Latino families that have established themselves as permanent residents of the USA. This ignores the subsets of immigrants who a) will be thrown out by the deportation proponents, b) will be bullied out by the attritionists, or c) don't intend to settle permanently in the U.S. This last subset may be substantial. The 'guest-worker' scheme has been proposed to deal with these impermanent immigrants.

Fareed Zakaria:

Many Americans have become enamored of the European approach to immigration -- perhaps without realizing it. Guest workers, penalties, sanctions and deportation are all a part of Europe's mode of dealing with immigrants. The results of this approach have been on display recently in France, where rioting migrant youths again burned cars last week. Across Europe one sees disaffected, alienated immigrants, ripe for radicalism. The immigrant communities deserve their fair share of blame for this, but there's a cycle at work. European societies exclude the immigrants, who become alienated and reject their societies.

I don't think it's important to specify what, exactly, would radicalize an alienated Latino population within America, but Mickey Kaus says that irridentism cannot be ignored:

The more historically valid the Mexican claim that "vast portions" of the Southwest constitute their "homeland," the more dicey it is to allow such a large chunk of immigration to come from Mexico. True, the fabled "reconquista" is hardly a real threat now. But who can guarantee what future generations will think? Irredentism is the source of conflict and killing around the globe. Why should the U.S. be permanently immune?

In short, if we are to have immigrants (and I think this is, economically, a foregone conclusion), then we want them to be here for more than just dollars.

Posted by Zach Wendling at 01:06 PM | Comments (50)

April 07, 2006

NBC Goes Fishing at NASCAR Events

Michelle Malkin has been reporting this week on NBC's efforts to uncover anti-Muslim bias in the United States. And where does the network think they'll find people who hold ignorant stereotypes about Muslims? At NASCAR races, of course! Why, every good, culturally-enlightened person knows that NASCAR races are a hotbed of redneck ignorance.

NBC recruited Muslims to attend the NASCAR race in Martinsville, VA. The men were fitted with hidden cameras and microphones to record the other fans' reactions. Apparently they didn't record anything interesting in Martinsville, so they're trying again at a race in Texas.

So, what's wrong with an "undercover sting" of this sort? Don't news crews do this sort of thing to catch unethical businessmen on camera and other such investigations? Yes, but it seems to me that trying to ferret out bias in ordinary social interactions is a bit tricker than catching a mechanic selling repairs a car doesn't need. Unless they film someone making an overt ethnic slur, it would be all too possible to imply through selective editing that the Muslim men received unfriendly treatment.

In fact, sociological experiments have proven that our own minds do such selective editing--I recall a test where subjects were given a prominent facial disfigurement via stage makeup, then sent out to shopping malls. All the subjects reported a noticeable difference in how people reacted to them, but there was a catch--only half of them were actually given the makeup. The other half were simply tricked into thinking something had been put on their faces.

I hope that NBC's little experiment is successful in one aspect, however--that it might teach their producers that Midwesterners (and Southerners) do not fit the stereotypes of them held by east and west-coast urbanites.

Posted by Eric Seymour at 06:10 PM | Comments (7)

The Inside Man

Matthew Mehan offers an extensive review of Spike Lee's "The Inside Man" now out in theatres.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

April 06, 2006

The Gospel of Judas

This week marks the release of a groundbreaking ancient manuscript known as "The Gospel of Judas." This wikipedia entry notes the text's first reference in Adversus Haereses by Irenaeus, written in Lyon about AD 180: "They believe that Judas the Betrayer was fully informed of these things and that only he understanding the truth like no one else fulfilled the secret of betrayal that confused all things, both in heaven and on earth. They invented their own history called the Gospel of Judas. (A.H. I.31.1)"

But no one had actually seen the Gospel of Judas until it turned up in an Egyptian "gray market." The Coptic manuscript was brushed onto 31 tattered pages of papyrus and discovered just a few decades ago. Read the full story of its discovery and authentication here. Much of the manuscript echos what is already in the New Testament about Christ's arrest, but unlike the traditional Christian New Testament, the Judas in this manuscript isn't portrayed as a villain. The text portrays Judas as one who hands Jesus over to authorities because Jesus asked it of him. More detail into its contents can be found here.

In one passage Jesus tells Judas, "you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me." According the project's leader, "Jesus says it is necessary for someone to free him finally from his human body, and he prefers that this liberation be done by a friend rather than by an enemy."

Of course the manuscript has its critics, most notably those around at the time of its creation. St. Irenaeus of Lyons, mentioned above, targeted the gospel in AD 178. So even the text's contemporaries were doubtful of the document's truth, but so are modern scholars. James Robinson has penned a book on the 'gospel' and argues that because it was written in the third century, it is not old enough. But if it was mentioned by Irenaeus in the third century, it could very well have been created even earlier. And National Geographic rightly notes that it's "ironic" for Robsinson to raise these questions after he had "for years, tried unsuccessfully to acquire the codex himself, and is publishing his own book in April, despite having no direct access to the materials."

No matter your take on the truth of the manuscript, very few have questioned its age. That alone makes it significant. But now it must undergo the scrutiny that awaits all ancient manuscripts, both in scholarly circles and the public square.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at 04:31 PM | Comments (13)

Plumbers vs. Water Conservation

I understand why plumbers might not be very happy about waterless bathroom fixtures. It's like asking a gas station owner to get enthused about electric cars. Still, it's remarkable that the plumbers union in Philadelphia managed to negotiate a deal whereby a new city skyscraper which will feature waterless urinals will have water supply lines for the urinals installed anyway, but not hooked up. The justification for this deal is that the supply lines are there as backup in case the waterless urinals don't work out. However, the technology has been in use for over a decade, so that seems unlikely.

Another recent incident featuring the powerful Philadelphia unions was the scrubbing of MTV's filming of "The Real World" in Philadelphia. The show's producers (as is their usual practice) had used nonunion labor in renovating a building for the show. In response, union protesters picketed the location and indications were that the picketing would continue during filming. The producers then decided to cancel the show, and Philadelphia lost a large amount of free advertising for the city to a crucial demographic of young people.

Posted by Eric Seymour at 12:20 PM | Comments (3)

Stranger than Fiction?

So, I was at the supermarket last night and in the checkout lane I glanced at the latest edition of the tabloid Weekly World News. "Humans turning back into apes," was the headline. I smirked, and thought about Planet of the Apes. Then I looked at the magazine rack directly above the tabloid, which held Entertainment Weekly. On this week's cover? Howard Stern. Oh, my. They may be on to something...

Posted by Eric Seymour at 10:11 AM | Comments (3)

April 04, 2006

Somber Inspiration

Fellow Hoosier blogger Torpor Indy reminds us that today marks not only the anniversary of the assassination of MLK Jr. but also of Robert Kennedy's pacifying speech at 17th and Broadway in Indianapolis. Whereas many large cities experienced rioting, civil unrest, injuries and deaths, Kennedy's speech is credited with preserving the peace in the Circle City that night:

Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because...

I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.

For those of you who are black - considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization - black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

(Interrupted by applause)

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

(Interrupted by applause)

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much. (Applause)

The speech was extemporaneous.

Posted by Zach Wendling at 06:06 PM | Comments (5)

Memo to CBS

From: A concerned basketball viewer.
Re: The NCAA Basketball Title Game

Thank you for showing us the NCAA title game. Please consider the following suggestions for a more pleasant viewing experience next year:

1. Not every dunk needs to be repeated between 3-5 times from different angles during stoppages of play. It gets tedious, unless you make a game of it by predicting the number of times a particular dunk will be shown, or by creating a drinking game around repeated dunks.

2. Please inform your color announcer that the name of Florida's head coach is pronounced "Billy DAHN-ovan," not Billy "DUN-ovan." Though also excellent fodder for a drinking game, this too gets tedious after being continuously repeated.

3. I understand you are under orders from the NBA to create marketable stars because they believe the game cannot stand on its own, but please do not pick the most grating player to be that star, even if his father is the French Bob Marley some tennis guy.

4. When an opposing player takes an inbound pass and leaps over the player from #3 and lands a thunderous dunk, it is ok to repeat that dunk at least once. Really. It is. Even if his team is down by 20.

5. I am no longer afraid of the Burger King king mask because of you. Thanks a lot.

6. So the most marketable stars this year were Adam Morrison, J.J. Redick, and Joakim Noah (oooh, he's the best!). I weep for college basketball.

7. This week on CSI, an FBI psychic foresees her own death. CSI: America's Most Watched Show!

Posted by David Darlington at 07:19 AM | Comments (2)

April 03, 2006

Nuggets from Musgrave

Paul explains the order of things:

People from New York look down on people from Chicago who look down from people from Indianapolis who look down on people from Evansville who look down on people from Poseyville who look down on people from New York.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at 11:06 PM | Comments (7)

Internet memes

Performer Chriss Bliss has been gaining noteriety online for this juggling performance to the tune of the Beatles' "Golden Slumbers" and "Carry That Weight." But my friend alerts me to a "Bliss Diss" by technical juggler Jason Garfield. Garfield did the same routine, but with five balls instead of three.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at 10:45 AM | Comments (2)

April 02, 2006

Freedom to Blog

The Blogosphere has been celebrating a recent vote by the FEC that exempts blogs from campaign finance regulation.

Please excuse me if I don't share their exuberance. An unelected panel of six bureaucrats deign to allow Americans to retain their inherent civil liberties, and this is somehow "a tremendous win for speech"? Sad.

Posted by Zach Wendling at 12:23 PM | Comments (8)

The Immigration Fire

There seems to be something missing from the rhetoric concerning upcoming immigration legislation. Pro-immigrant pundits remind us of the waves of immigrants who came before, so the current surge of Hispanics is an unexceptional extension of our national history. For understandable reasons, the anti-immigrant side rarely mentions that our history also includes shameful opposition to these waves, but doing so would illuminate that the harshest version of the current immigration bills is exceptionally mild.

I'd like to think that we have progressed as a society to a point where immigrants are no longer met with reflexive racism (but in the absence of an accurate instrument to measure this, we can't be sure.) I also think the economic arguments against immigration have been largely deflated, but that may just be my libertarian bias. Instead, anti-immigrant camps have latched on to more palatable objections: national security, law and order, and assimilation.

Their fears may be exaggerated, but I think Jane Galt articulated well why Hispanic immigrants make Americans so squeamish:

I think the real limit to the number of immigrants we can accept is the rate at which America's institutions can assimilate them.

"Institutions" is the new buzzword in economics, and like all such buzzwords, it gets bandied around somewhat loosely. By "institutions" I mean, in this case, all the hidden cultural practices that allow us to transact with strangers with such a high degree of trust and efficiency. If, for example, we allowed so many immigrants that one could no longer effectively be sure of transacting business in a single language, that would have heavy institutional costs. Or if most of the immigrants came from places where family networks were the primary economic unit, and nepotism was viewed as a cultural good, and there were enough of them to change the practice in large swathes of American business, I think that this would make both immigrants and the Americans worse off. Or if there were enough immigrants with anti-liberal (in the classical sense) values to undermine that cultural feature of America, that would be, I think, a bad thing for everyone.

But I don't think we're anywhere near that limit.

Convincing Americans that we aren't anywhere near that limit is the key to defusing the immigration debate. Unfortunately, the protesters seem intent on convincing America their worst suspicions are true. As Mickey Kaus put it:

Skipping school to block freeways and flying the U.S. flag upside down under the Mexican flag ... Those anti-anti-immigrant student protesters in L.A. know how to win over a majority of ordinary voters!

More such reflections collected by Instapundit.

Update: Insty points out a relevent pick-two from Jim Bennett: "Democracy, Immigration, Multiculturalism -- Pick Any Two"

Posted by Zach Wendling at 11:43 AM | Comments (16)

Grrrrr

Indiana finally made the switch to Daylight Saving Time this morning.

Stupid f---ing DST.

Doug Masson captures the mood well:

The newspapers are littered with "Gee Whiz, We're Going to be on Daylight Saving Time" coverage. When I read those articles, for some reason they remind me of a Special Olympics pep talk. "Come on champ, you can do it! Move that clock ahead one hour. You can do it the night before, or the morning after! Isn't that wild? Don't worry, you'll get used to it. There you go, that's super!"

It's as if the writers believe that the reason Hoosiers remained on Hoosier Standard Time (HST) for more than a generation because we considered ourselves too stupid to work a clock . . .

I don't expect we'll change back any time soon, and I expect I'll get used to getting up in the dark mornings pretty much year round and to putting my kids to bed in the full glare of daylight.

Posted by Zach Wendling at 02:26 AM | Comments (8)